Highlights from Saturday's KROQ Almost Acoustic Christmas Concert

Thanks to Dave "the King of Mexico" Sanchez and the "Kevin & Bean" crew for inviting me to this year's KROQ Almost Acoustic Christmas show (can you believe it's already the 26th year?). I headed down to the Forum for Saturday night's show, and was treated to sets from KROQ favorites like Weezer and Silversun Pickups (featuring Maria's former Rhino co-worker Nikki on bass).


Silversun Pickups sounded great, and played their crowd favorites.


More Silversun Pickups


Bastille: Eheu eh-o eheu eh-o, Eheu eh-o eheu eh-o, Eheu eh-o eheu eh-o, Eheu eh-o eheu eh-o, Eheu eh-o eheu eh-o!


Now, this was a first: the drummer for Twenty One Pilots, "drum surfing" the crowd.


Yep, literally playing the drums over the crowd.


Kevin and Bean -- plus Allie Mc Kay, Chip, Dave the King of Mexico and Christine, along with the new Miss Double-D -- intro Weezer. And good news: Bean stayed on the stage!


More K&B crew


Weezer does their thing, playing many of their biggest hits.


"What's with these homies, dissin' my girl?"


"Beverly Hills, that's where I want to be!"


Some serious confetti at the end of the Weezer show.

Former KROQ DJ Jed the Fish, Who Spent Nearly 35 Years at the Iconic Radio Station, Dies at 69

Jed “The Fish” Gould, the pioneering Los Angeles DJ who spent 34 years on influential Los Angeles alternative radio station KROQ-FM as “Jed the Fish,” died early Monday morning. He was 69; the cause was lung cancer, of which he had only recently been diagnosed.

Gould first joined KROQ in 1978, when it was still a tiny, struggling FM station in Pasadena, breaking punk rock, alternative and new wave bands before anyone else — and continued there for decades, departing in 2012 after years as its afternoon jock.

“He is one of the kindest, funniest and the most unique people that I’ve ever met,” said good friend and current KROQ DJ Megan Holiday. “He was so inspiring and endlessly creative, and he had an infectious energy. He could light up an arena. I just loved him very much and was grateful for the time we got to spend together.”

After his time at KROQ, Gould spent time at noncommercial California State Northridge AAA station KCSN, where he did shifts until last fall. After a short stint at KLOS, he also then briefly returned to KROQ, as a host on the station’s HD-2 “Roq of the ’80s” feed.

“My decades at KROQ are the core of my radio experience,” he wrote on his LinkedIn page. “Right place at the right time. We were leading the way but had no idea. Looking back, it’s plain the influence of this powerhouse reached beyond radio. TV, movies and now the sorts of attitudes and intensities displayed online owe much of their processes to KROQ… Any music lover who grew up in SoCal will tell you KROQ was their buddy for much or most of their lives. You can tell I now take pride in what I did. But I really tried not to while I was doing it… I did have some terse and morally contradictory episodes at KROQ, but I was treated well by executives and colleagues alike. I found very little feedback would stick in my head better than the other way. [Program director] Kevin Weatherly helped me be a better me. This vast experience raced by like all good things. Driving to work, at least 10 times a month, I would remember how lucky I was; that this could all be over any minute. Like the end of the Sopranos.”

Born Edwin Jed Fish Gould III in 1955, in more recent years Jed the Fish spent his time as a visual artist, working in mixed media, sculpture and other forms. Before KROQ, he worked at stations including KIQQ, KEZY and KORG. During his KROQ run, he briefly left for modern rock KQAK and AOR KRQR San Francisco before returning.

But he’ll forever be best known for his legacy at KROQ, where he won multiple honors, including the Billboard Modern Rock Personality of the Year award twice, as well as the Radio & Records Local Modern Rock Personality of the Year. He also appeared as himself in films including “Surf II” and “Night Angel,” as well as the doc “Mayor of Sunset Strip.”

As Jed the Fish, Gould’s on-air personality was known for a wicked, off-beat sense of humor and a variety of loud, cackling laughs.

“It took me years of imitation before I learned the simplicity of being myself on the air,” he wrote on LinkedIn. “Turns out this was a wacky position to take, but people seem to like the honesty behind it. The laugh? People would often say, ‘Jed, do your laugh!’ I would glibly reply, ‘Say something funny.’ They often would, and even now, if they do, they get what they want. But what goes unrealized is the laugh is actually over a dozen laughs I subconsciously culled from family members in early childhood. The lingering devil laugh was Uncle John. The low chuckle was my mom’s dad. The wheezy one, my own dad. The giddy ‘hee hee’ from my first stepfather. I have a gentle, stuttering laugh which came from Eileen S. Hall, mom’s mom and a tremendous influence on me. The extended, energetic, open-throated ‘ha-haa’ that scares people seems to be my own, or perhaps a hybrid of the above. I highly recommend laughing whenever possible.”

On Monday afternoon’s Kevin Ryder show, icons from KROQ past and present gathered to remember Jed the Fish, including Richard Blade, Freddy Snakeskin, Doug “Sluggo” Roberts, Jay “Lightning” Tilles, Tami Heide, Kat Corbett, Andy Schuon and many others:




Read more here.

How KROQ Became World Famous Again: Two Kevins, a Return to Rock and a Lot of Patience for Its New Morning Show

Jimmy Kimmel and Adam Carolla are among the producers who have spent years crafting a multi-part docuseries chronicling the history of influential Los Angeles alternative radio station KROQ — and five years ago, they seemed to have a proper (albeit, depressing) ending to the story. As reported at the time by Variety, the once-“world famous” KROQ had collapsed in both ratings and reputation as the station lost its two-time Hall of Fame morning show “Kevin & Bean,” while simultaneously blowing up its familiar playlist. “It’s the End of the World Famous KROQ As We Know It,” the Variety headline read.

And yet, five years later, there appears to be a bit of a recovery happening at the legendary radio outlet. In October, KROQ posted a 5.8 share in its key adults 25-54 demo — making it No. 2 in Los Angeles, the nation’s second-largest marrket. That’s quite a change from even just a year ago, when the station was still pulling a fairly tepid 2.6 share (No. 16 in the market).

KROQ is also experiencing a tremendous boost in the mornings, where the “Klein.Ally.Show” hit its best-ever numbers last month — after having struggled to gain traction during its first four years on air.

“We have a great frickin’ story here,” says KROQ senior VP of programming Kevin Weatherly. “It was dark times at this station. Many people thought would never come back. A lot of people thought KROQ was dead, and it was dead to a lot of our listeners. But now here we are, five years later. Not only have we come back from that, but we’re back bigger in terms of ratings success, than we’ve been in 15-plus years.”

Per KROQ’s monthly ratings trends, that rebirth really took off this past spring — and it’s probably not a coincidence that the listenership skyrocketed after the return of ex-morning host Kevin Ryder. With his former “Kevin & Bean” partner Gene “Bean” Baxter, Ryder spent 30 years at KROQ until March 2020 — when he and co-hosts Allie Mac Kay and Jensen Karp (Baxter had departed in November 2019) were fired over the phone during the pandemic.

Ryder returned to the KROQ in afternoon drive this past April 1, a little over five years after being axed — and soon after, another KROQ vet, Doug “Sluggo” Roberts, also returned to the station for regular shifts after a long absence. (During that time away, Ryder and Roberts hosted an afternoon show together on L.A. classic rock outlet KLOS.)

“I think Kevin Ryder coming back had the halo effect of really benefiting the radio station from a ratings standpoint,” Weatherly says. “Because it did give people permission that were pissed off, that didn’t want anything to do with KROQ, to go, ‘OK, if he’s coming back, it’s cool for us too.’”

Read more here.

End of an Era: Lisa May, "Doc on the Roq" Depart KROQ After More Than Two Decades

Radio isn't known for its longevity -- it's a tough business, particularly for on-air talent. Even the best ones frequently find themselves hopping from market to market. So it's all the more amazing that the Kevin & Bean Show is celebrating its 25th anniversary this year.

But change is in the air: After 24 years, longtime "Kevin & Bean" traffic reporter Lisa May (that's her, above with me at the KROQ studios in 2012) has left the show. Ditto Boyd R. Britton, a.k.a. "Doc on the Roq," who had been at KROQ for 27 years, and produced news capsules for the morning show. KROQ is doing away with both traffic and news in the morning, and more changes are to come.

Lisa May's past gigs include working as a DJ at a country station in the Valley, while Britton has been in the market for years, working for KKDJ, KIIS, KTNQ, KWST, KHTZ and KNWZ, according to LARadio.com.

Kevin & Bean announced the change this morning. The duo, plus Ralph Garman and Lisa also addressed it on Twitter:









Good luck to Lisa as she moves on to her next adventure!

UPDATE: Meanwhile, K&B has a new female voice: Former KTLA reporter Allie MacKay, who joined the show on Monday. Here's the report from All Access:

CBS RADIO Alternative KROQ/LOS ANGELES has added ALLIE MAC KAY to the cast of the KEVIN AND BEAN show. MAC KAY, who most recently appeared on the KTLA morning show for the last six years, started this morning.

The move comes on the heels of the departures of morning news anchor DOC ON THE ROQ (NET NEWS, 2/19) and traffic reporter LISA MAY (NET NEWS, 2/23) “DOC ON THE ROQ and LISA MAY have both been valuable and long-term members of the KEVIN AND BEAN cast and we appreciate all of their contributions, CBS RADIO VP/Programming and KROQ PD KEVIN WEATHERLY said. “As of today, we have added frequent guest and fill-in ALLIE MAC KAY as a full-time addition to the KEVIN AND BEAN show.”

“Today was my first day as part of the dysfunctional family that is "The KEVIN AND BEAN Show" on KROQ,” she wrote on her FACEBOOK post. “Growing up here in L.A., if you would have told me this was even a possibility, I wouldn't have believed it. At the same time, change isn't easy (for anyone involved) especially when you come after someone so beloved. I'm just there to do my best and hope it makes you happy (for some of you … that will hopefully come in time).”

What Happened, KROQ? Rival 98.7 Delivers A Smackdown

What happened, KROQ?

The "World Famous" alt rocker is getting hit by increased competition from 98.7 KYSR-FM, the station once known as "Star 98.7." In the January Arbitron ratings, 98.7 posted a cume of 2.2 million listeners -- compared to KROQ's 2.1 million.

KROQ wins in certain demos, and still dominates in the morning -- but the fact that one-time also-ran 98.7 is now beating KROQ among total listeners 6+ is still surprising and a concern for tge legendary station.

Ever since moving away from modern adult contemporary music, and more into a heavy mix of 1980s and 1990s alternative gold that KROQ has mostly dumped, 98.7 has become a more solid competitor.

98.7, which also plays new music, also began to see its fortunes rise after Indie 103.1 left the airwaves. (98.7 even picked up a few old Indie shows, including "Complete Control Radio.")

Ironically, Clear Channel -- which owns KYSR -- originally helped launch Indie 103.1 as a "KROQ killer." But once it had to divest its management of Indie (which it ran for owner Entravision), Clear Channel turned its attention to making over 98.7 into a stronger competitor.

Since then, 98.7 has added harder alt rock to its mix -- although still softer and more mainstream than CBS Radio-owned KROQ.

"It's the result of a very focused music strategy and plan to win the lion’s share of the alternative rock audience in Southern California," Greg Ashlock, Clear Channel/LA market president, told LARadio.com. "The secret sauce is authenticity. The 98-7 staff from top to bottom passionately believes in this station and treats work like a playground. There is no hype, just genuine interest in delivering good product to the alternative rock lovers."

Authenticity? No hype? Then what's with the most annoying -- and most corporate-sounding -- marketing campaign I've ever seen for a rock station? 98.7 still insists on calling its audience "Rock-a-holics" -- which sounds like a term a 1970s-era album rock station would use ("HEY, ROCK-A-HOLICS, HERE'S STAIRWAY TO HEAVEN!"). No self-respecting, genuine alt rock station would go with the marketing and image campaign that 98.7 has (including that font -- are they trying to be tongue-in-cheek? If so, I can't tell -- or maybe I just can't fathom Clear Channel having a sense of humor). But I guess it's working.

KROQ isn't sitting down. The station just brought Ted Stryker back to KROQ (from sister top 40 KAMP) to host afternoon drivetime. The station has weathered several competitors through the years, but this may be its toughest challenge yet.

A Farewell to KROQ's Bean as He Departs After 30 Years

For months, Gene "Bean" Baxter's co-hosts on KROQ's "Kevin and Bean Show" have jokingly quipped "R.I.P. Bean!" to their departing colleague — and listeners have gotten in on the act as well. Bean isn't dying — he's leaving the show after nearly 30 years — and exiting the United States all together, moving with his wife, Donna, to England, where he was born as a military brat.

Being a fellow brat, that's one of several things I have in common with Bean — perhaps most notably, a love of radio. From the time I was a kid, I dreamed of being a radio DJ, and I was obsessed with the Billboard charts (something Bean also geeked out over the years).

Bean not only grew up wanting to be in radio, but he made it happen. And not only did he make it happen, but he wound up co-hosting one of the longest-running and most iconic morning radio shows in Los Angeles history. He and co-host Kevin Ryder have already been inducted in the National Association of Broadcasters Hall of Fame (I happened to be there, and took the video below), and on Friday they'll next be inducted in the Radio Hall of Fame.



Thursday is Bean's final day on KROQ and "The Kevin and Bean Show." And when his fans and colleagues joke "R.I.P. Bean," it's not really a joke. Bean's not dying, but for fans of "The Kevin and Bean Show," to lose a trusted voice and a part of your daily routine say goodbye after 30 years — it's tremendous blow. Like many in Los Angeles, I'm stuck in a car for hours each day, and "The Kevin and Bean Show" is my lifeline to sanity. Thanks to the show's podcast, I can listen to the full 4-hour broadcast, condensed into an hour and a half without music and commercials, every day as a result.

The term "end of an era" has become a bit of a cliché, but the end of Kevin and Bean's partnership is absolutely one. Their morning drive contemporaries — including KLOS' Mark and Brian and KIIS' Rick Dees — are long gone, and radio (not to mention, all of the media landscape) has dramatically changed since "Kevin and Bean" premiered at the start of 1990.

KROQ was already a legendary station when Kevin and Bean began there; as a kid, I read Billboard magazine and poured over the radio coverage so much that I was familiar with major-market stations, particularly on the west coast, like KROQ and KIIS. Funny enough, a 1989 Billboard I still own even includes a "Vox Jox" column announcing the hiring of Kevin and Bean on KROQ.

The first time I actually heard KROQ was in college at Northwestern in Chicago. One of my dormmates was from Southern California, and I asked her to record a cassette of KROQ when she was home for Christmas break. When I moved to Los Angeles in 1996, I knew of the station and Kevin & Bean and began sampling them — while, coincidentally, also listening to a lot of 103.1 "Groove Radio," programmed by former KROQ DJ the Swedish Egil. Mornings on Groove Radio were also handled by a KROQ alum, Jim "Poorman" Trenton, and I would flip back and forth between the two. But soon I was listening to Kevin and Bean full time. I headed to Warehouse Music that fall to buy Kevin & Bean's annual Christmas cassette, which was produced by "Jimmy the Sports Guy," some Brooklyn-sounding dude named Jimmy Kimmel. (I have almost every KROQ Christmas cassette and CD , until they stopped releasing them in the mid-2000s.)

Jimmy left and became a superstar, and Ralph Garman brought an arsenal of voices and improv that turned "Kevin & Bean" into a comedy treasure trove in the 2000s. The supporting team has changed over the years, but the Kevin and Bean formula remains: It's not a "morning zoo" with hyper DJs trying too hard over a dance music bed; it's an irreverent, often satirical and always self-deprecating look at entertainment, the culture, and what it's like to navigate the world around us.

Well-versed in pop culture, history, trivia and minutia, Bean often took lead on interviews, and his ability to hyperfocus on what needs to be asked and answered will be missed on the show. It's a skill that remains surprisingly rare on radio or TV. Listening to his interviews over the years, I think, influenced how I interview various performers and celebrities on my own podcasts.

I had written occasionally about KROQ and Kevin & Bean over the years for Variety and Franklin Avenue. But I really got to know the team thanks to social media. Twitter may be a cesspool, but it does have a useful function when it comes to bringing people together. It was through early Twitter that I conversed with Bean, and started getting invitations to talk TV on the show. Bean would always keep me on my toes, and I knew to brush up on information, as well as bring notes, to make sure I could answer his questions. It was a treat to see them at Comic Con annually, and stop by the studio a few times each year.

It's impossible to convey how impressive a 30-year run is, especially in radio — where formats, and lineups, change at the drop of a hat. There's no constant in radio, with a few exceptions. "Kevin and Bean" has been one of them. So much has changed since 1990 (I was still a junior in high school, for one thing!). And "Kevin and Bean" has evolved quite a bit since those early days, yet they still are  able to keep up with the times and reflect, to this day, what's happening in pop culture and with their listeners.

As Bean heads to London, I look forward to seeing how the next chapter of his career unfolds; he promises that he's not retiring, and still hopes to find a new radio home overseas. As for "The Kevin and Bean Show," it will maintain that title for a while longer, perhaps until the end of the year. But beyond cosmetic changes, like a new title, not too much will change: The rest of the cast, including Allie MacKay, Jensen Karp, producer Dave "the King of Mexico" Sanchez, production whiz Omar Khan, jack-of-all-trades Johnny "Beer Mug" Kantrowe and assistant producer Christine Fung remain.

And thank goodness for that. R.I.P. Bean, but for the rest of you, I'll be tuning in on Monday!

New Co-Host and New (Not So Good) Timeslot for KROQ's "Loveline"

(New "Loveline" co-host "Psycho Mike" Catherwood, along with former "Loveline" co-host Adam Carolla and the show's 26-year veteran, Dr. Drew Pinsky)

As KROQ looks to beat down the surging competition -- rival 98.7 KYSR, which beat KROQ in the last Arbitron ratings survey -- the station has now bumped nighttime staple "Loveline" deep into the night.

"Loveline," now nationally syndicated by Westwood One, began as a weekly show on KROQ in 1983 (then hosted by Jim "Poorman" Trenton, who was joined a year later by Dr. Drew Pinsky). KROQ expanded the show to five nights a week -- Sunday through Thursday -- in 1992, and it's run from 10 p.m. to midnight ever since then.

Until now. Under pressure to improve its audience numbers, KROQ has pushed "Loveline" to a much tougher midnight-to-2 a.m. slot. The station now runs music at 10 p.m.

Meanwhile, "Loveline" has also tapped a new co-host to fill the void left by Ted Stryker, who left the show last year (but who recently returned to KROQ as the station's afternoon drive DJ). Longtime KROQ/"Kevin & Bean" staffer "Psycho Mike" Catherwood, who has regularly filled in as Pinsky's co-host on the show, has now been officially given the gig.

"I'm so honored and excited," Catherwood wrote on the KROQ site. "Hopefully my time working with the best morning radio show in the world (The Kevin & Bean Show) and as a recovering addict will have prepared me to take on this job. I grew up here in L.A. so it's down right surreal for me to be a part of two great Southern California institutions."

Besides "Loveline" originator the Poorman, Pinsky's other past co-hosts include Riki Rachtman, and Adam Carolla (who hosted for 10 years).

As KROQ DJ Kat Corbett Exits, She Reflects on Two Decades at the Station and the Struggles Facing Alternative Radio

Longtime KROQ DJ Kat Corbett is the latest voice to exit the iconic L.A. alternative radio station — and although she’s not ready to reveal her next stop just yet, she hints to Variety that several possibilities are on the horizon.

“I am talking to some folks that I can’t say just yet,” said Corbett, who also continues to host a daily show on SiriusXM’s Lithium channel. “I think the audio sound space is so amazing right now. Podcasting, fiction podcasting, this stuff is blowing my mind. How I would love to put some of my stories in that arena.” Corbett also hopes to release her debut novel before the end of the year: “They’re rough drafts but I wrote two books during COVID. I was like, what else am I gonna do?”

Corbett had most recently served as a weekend and fill-in DJ for KROQ, in addition to her signature, weekly show “Locals Only,” featuring unsigned and up-and-coming L.A. bands. From 2005 to 2020, Corbett was KROQ’s midday DJ, following the famed “Kevin & Bean Show.”

But “Kevin & Bean” ended its run at the end of 2019, following the departure of Gene “Bean” Baxter. Co-host Kevin Ryder continued until March 2020, when KROQ fired him and co-hosts Allie Mac Kay and Jensen Karp over the phone, in the middle of a pandemic.

More recently, Ted Stryker, co-host of the current morning show, “Stryker & Klein,” also departed the station. The loss of KROQ’s signature stars, coupled with a dramatic shift in the station’s music mix over the past year, has led to several pieces — including one in Variety — dissecting the station’s current choices, ratings plummet and its future.

Corbett, however, had been pondering an exit at KROQ for some time, even prior to the recent departures and changes. She had actually planned to leave, with another show lined up, last year until the COVID-19 pandemic changed everything.

“I was ready to go then because, frankly, I reached the top of my game, and I never thought I’d be somewhere for 20 years — like that’s crazy, let alone KROQ,” said Corbett, pointing to the decision to leave the midday gig. “I’m somebody who really likes to work, I like being creative, and again it’s like, what else was there for me to do? I was never one of those people where I was, ‘I’m going to retire at KROQ.’ That’s not a thing. You grow out of the demo. I knew that there would always be a time. It was definitely happening right before COVID. And then, obviously, everything fell apart and so I already had a home so it was kind of like, [why not ride it out] while I was still there.”

Read the full story here.

KROQ Feeling the Heat?

Looks like they're taking the music tweaks at Clear Channel's Star 98.7 (KYSR-FM) seriously over at KROQ.

In the 11 years I've lived here, I've never once seen a billboard campaign for KROQ. The station has generally not spent much on outdoor advertising -- after all, it's enough of a radio powerhouse and institution, so that marketing money could be used elsewhere.

So why the billboards, why now? Perhaps they want to stop Star 98.7 -- which has recently moved to a more harder, male-targeted sound (think KROQ lite) -- before it makes any inroads.

The KROQ billboards and bus ads feature core station bands (Red Hot Chili Peppers, above, Incubus, etc.) and the slogan "I Am KROQ." Interestingly, KROQ's frequency (106.7) is nowhere to be found. Guess the station is still enough of an institution that the marketers figured KROQ's target audience already knows where it is.

Also interesting that the bands featured on both 98.7's new billboards (Linkin Park, Pearl Jam) and many of KROQ's new ads (Sublime, RHCP) are for the most part considered 1990s bands.

KROQ's Kevin & Bean Go National

KROQ's top-rated Kevin & Bean morning show is about to be nationally syndicated, joining the ranks of other local A.M. shows including KIIS' Ryan Seacrest and KPWR's Big Boy.

"Kevin & Bean" celebrates its 20th anniversary on KROQ next year, but up until now has only been syndicated to a few markets on the west coast, including Fresno and (just recently) Reno. The show's hyper focus on Los Angeles (they make fun of local institutions like KNBC's Paul Moyer and Doug Kriegel, for example, and even other KROQ personalities like Rodney Bingenheimer and Jed the Fish) and its reliance on in-jokes that reward loyal listeners might make the show an unusual candidate for nation-wide syndication.

But "Kevin & Bean" has been a dominant ratings success in L.A. for several years now, and its ability to attract big-name stars -- remember, when audio of Christian Bale chewing out a crewmember hit the Internet, he called in to K&B to do damage control -- could make it a national draw as well. The move also comes as radio groups trim even more talent across the country and continue to turn to more out-of-market syndicated fare to fill the airwaves.

Here's the release from Westwood One, which will start offering "Kevin & Bean" nationally beginning this Monday:

New York, NY – May 8, 2009 – Westwood One is pleased to announce that it will begin airing The Kevin & Bean Show on radio stations nationwide on May 11, 2009.

The Kevin & Bean Show has been one of Southern California’s top-rated morning radio shows for more than two decades on flagship KROQ-FM.

"The Kevin & Bean show is one of the strongest and engaging programs on radio,” said Max Krasny, Westwood One SVP Entertainment. “We are thrilled to partner with KROQ and bring the Kevin and Bean show to listeners across America. This program will be a tremendous value for our affiliates, advertisers, and listeners across the country.”

"The Kevin and Bean show on The World Famous KROQ has consistently been one of the top rated morning shows in Los Angeles for fifteen plus years,” Kevin Weatherly, SVP Programming, CBS Radio. “Now it's time to unleash them on the rest of the country. We're confident this partnership with Westwood One will allow stations in other markets to reap the benefits of having one of the most compelling and entertaining shows on radio."

“We never got to do a morning show in places like Fresno and Reno on the way up so we are thrilled to have the chance on the way down,” said Bean.

"What? Nobody told me anything about this," added Kevin.

About Kevin & Bean
"The Kevin and Bean Show originates each weekday morning from the World Famous KROQ in Los Angeles, California. But how can you tell if our radio show is right for you? Take our easy quiz. Here are two groups of things. Which list sounds most appealing to you? Group 'A': Metallica, Grand Theft Auto, Kobe Bryant, The United States Of America, Family Guy, Megan Fox, Foo Fighters, Stephen Colbert, Ultimate Fighting Championship, Puppies. Group 'B': Ashlee Simpson, Keno, Butt Hair, Arbor Day, According To Jim, O.J. Simpson, Ryan Seacrest, Rabies, Speed Traps, Mud, Good Charlotte, Death. If you prefer Group 'A' then please enjoy your new favorite entertainment program. We were made for each other. If you prefer Group 'B' then please just move along. We are just a blind date that didn't work out. We'll both be happier with other people anyway." - Alex Warren, Executive Producer, KROQ, The Kevin & Bean Show.

Remember when K&B called French president Jacques Chirac, and got him on the air thanks to Ralph Garman's Jerry Lewis impersonation? We wrote about it back in 2003.

"Roq of the 80s," Back on the Airwaves

When KROQ refers to itself as "world famous," it's not just bragging. You can't underestimate the lasting impact KROQ had in the 1980s on the music industry, movies and MTV. These days, when you think of 1980s music that has stood the test of time, it's the stuff that KROQ played that you remember most.

Of course, KROQ eventually dumped the music that made it "world famous," evolving to its current more male-oriented, heavier sound. But it hasn't completely turned its back on its heritage: KROQ recently brought back its old "Roq of the 80s" format to its secondary HD Radio channel.

The spin-off station plays all of the classic 80s KROQ tracks (Depeche Mode to The Cure to Oingo Boingo to Romeo Void) and even includes KROQ's old 1980s station I.D.s. (No commercials or DJs too.) Since no one I've ever met actually owns an HD Radio (and I'm doubtful anyone will anytime soon), you can actually listen to KROQ-HD2 online.

Just go to http://www.radiomat.com/streaming/index.html and scroll down to "Los Angeles." Then, click the "listen to" button next to KROQ-HD2. (Thanks to Radio-Info for the pointer.)

KROQ Brings Back Steve Jones and "Jonesy's Jukebox"

Nearly two years after Sex Pistol Steve Jones left the L.A. airwaves, "Jonesy's Jukebox" is back.

KROQ has given Jones a weekly Sunday night show, starting this Sunday at 7 p.m. "Jonesy's Jukebox" had been off the air since Entravision dumped the "Indie 103.1" format.

More, from KROQ:

Jonesy’s Jukebox will feature unreleased tracks from indie bands, b-sides, songs from bands that are bubbling under, KROQ classics and cuts from his personal music collection; anything he wants to play. Steve jumped right on board, "They are letting me play whatever I want—and that’s good for me."

Kevin Weatherly, Programming Director couldn’t be happier with the addition to KROQ’s lineup: "Sunday nights on KROQ has historically been the home to groundbreaking programming beginning with the legendary Rodney Bingenheimer over 30 years ago. In fact, Rodney was one of the first DJ’s in America to play the Sex Pistols. Steve is punk rock royalty… I'm thrilled that Jonesy’s Jukebox can now be heard alongside KROQ Locals Only, Loveline and Rodney on the Roq.

Kind of a bummer for Rodney that he's still relegated to the post-midnight slot, while Jonesy gets a bit more prime real estate. But Jonesy's Jukebox was as much about the personality -- and his interaction with celebs -- as he was about the music.



Read about the demise of Indie 103.1 here.

Indie 103.1 never got the Arbitron ratings, but its influence on music and the local radio scene is telling: Look at how much larger stations picked up Indie's former radio stars, with Jones to KROQ, Henry Rollins to KCRW and others to KYSR.

KROQ Moves 'Loveline' Back to Its Old Slot

In a scheduling reversal, KROQ has moved long-running relationship call-in show "Loveline" back to its former 10 p.m.-to-midnight slot.

KROQ had downgraded "Loveline" to a midnight-to-2 a.m. spot in March. The decision to move the show back then came after KROQ was getting handily beat in late night by rival KYSR 98.7, which stuck to music programming in those hours.

As a result, 98.7 was starting to beat KROQ in audience share, according to Arbitron radio rankings, even though KROQ's "Kevin & Bean Show" dominates in the morning.

But more recently, KROQ has once again pulled ahead of KYSR in the overall rankings. And programmer Kevin Weatherly told All Access that he was pleased with the shows being produced with veteran host Dr. Drew Pinsky and new co-host "Psycho Mike" Catherwood.

"The chemistry between Psycho Mike and Dr. Drew is amazing, and the show sounds better than ever," Weatherly told the site.

Catherwood also continues as a member of the "Kevin & Bean" team, as well as a weekend DJ on KROQ. Pinsky, meanwhile, recently signed a deal to host a new nightly show for the HLN network.

Retro Friday: When KROQ was KROQ; and When 103.1 was Groovy

Check out this 1980s TV spot for KROQ -- "Roq of the 80s" -- featuring the one and only Richard Blade. Remember when KROQ wasn't a slickly-run, heavily-programmed "alternative" radio station? Then check out the aircheck below.



From Aug. 13, 1983, here's how KROQ sounded back in its heyday. (Yep, quite college radio-esque.) Below, check out KROQ on Feb. 25, 1986, with Swedish Eagle (Egil Aalvik) as DJ. Love when Egil IDs "Shellshock" by New Order as coming from the "new film 'Pretty in Pink.'" And yes, that's the Thompson Twins, on KROQ. What a different time.



Speaking of Swedish Eagle, he was behind both the 1991 "Mars FM" format on 103.1, and later returned to launch the short-lived but still-missed "Groove Radio 103.1." Here's a scoped aircheck from the early days of "Mars FM" -- and yep, this DJ was pretty raw.



Groove Radio 103.1 first launched in 1996; Swedish Eagle left in 1997, and the station continued for another year as just "Groove 103.1." Here's the sales pitch and early DJ lineup for Groove Radio:




BTW, for those of you still missing Indie 103.1 and wondering whether it can ever survive as an online-only station... Groove Radio continues to survive online, ten years after it left the airwaves.

KROQ Responds
It didn't take long for radio powerhouse KROQ to subtly tweak its playlist in reaction to the launch of Indie 103.1.

KROQ has suddenly added tracks by The Postal Service ("Such Great Heights") and Gary Jules ("Mad World") and is playing a few more classics from the grungy early 90s. Even stranger, today KROQ was almost echoing Indie at one point -- playing the grunge classic "Hunger Strike" by Temple of the Dog while Indie was about two minutes into the song; same thing happened with "Such Great Heights."

The Infinity-owned station, of course, is not in danger of being beat by upstart Indie 103.1 anytime soon -- Indie's weak signal and niche format assure that. But Indie could soon enough be a thorn in KROQ's side, and be enough of a draw to take a few share points away from the "World Famous" station. (That's Clear Channel's plan, after all, in selling ad time on Indie -- steal enough share points so that KROQ drops from second or third to sixth or seventh in the Arbitrons).

So it's probably not a surprise that KROQ would act fast and start playing a few of the Indie 103.1 playlist tracks -- even if it's a little odd to hear the retro synth of The Postal Service in between songs by Blink 182 and AFI.

It's also odd, if you note that both the Postal Service and Gary Jules tracks are at least a year old -- KCRW was playing those songs back when 103.1 was still a Spanish station!

A Few Thoughts About the End of "Kevin & Bean" and "Kevin In The Morning" on KROQ

When I first arrived to Los Angeles in 1996, I immediately began listening to KROQ in the morning. Being a radio junkie, I had heard about "Kevin & Bean," and wanted to finally check it out for myself. I've listened to plenty of morning radio, and had just lived in both Washington, D.C., and Chicago, where the morning radio shows I heard were... all right. But missing real personality.

"Kevin & Bean" had personality. It wasn't trying to force sophomoric gags on you or unearned laughs. By the time I started tuning in, Kevin and Bean had been doing the show for six years, while Jimmy Kimmel had already been there for two — so I missed the early trials and errors. By 1996, the elements had all come into place. Kimmel was scripting fantastic bits and providing sports reports. Adam Corolla would join in, mostly in character. Lisa May chiming in on traffic, Doc on the Roq on news. Kevin and Bean orchestrating it all.

As Kimmel left and Ralph Garman joined the show, "Kevin & Bean" climbed to even greater heights, including many ratings books at No. 1. The show's bits were even further honed, and took full advantage of Ralph's voice skills and improv abilities. They not only referenced the top news and pop culture stories, they gave sharp commentary on them via satire and parody. "Kevin & Bean" had plenty of sophomoric stuff, but it was funny — and balanced by some really smart takes on the world. At one period of time, "Psycho Mike" Catherwood provided even more voices and takes, and the show was on fire.

Lisa and Ralph were eventually let go, and the way both of those exits were handled were unfortunate. Mike went off to pursue other things. But in came Allie Mac Kay, who gave the show new energy and a fresh perspective. Other players, including Johnny "Beer Mug" Kantrowe stepped up. A year and a half ago, Jensen Karp joined the show, another sharp writer and producer who injected the show with more original ideas.

After 30 years, "Kevin & Bean" had been inducted into both the NAB Hall of Fame and Radio Hall of Fame. Bean, who had done the show remotely for the last 20 of those years, departed at the end of 2019. "Kevin & Bean" was reborn in 2020 as "Kevin in the Morning with Allie & Jensen," but apparently the station's new management wasn't patient. And opted to throw away 30 years of history, just like that, on Tuesday. "Kevin & Bean" is no more, and now "Kevin in the Morning" is no more either.

Which is a shame. Especially during this coronavirus crisis, we need all the virtual human connection we can get, and "Kevin in the Morning" was family, a group we heard from and interacted with every morning over the airwaves (or on the podcast). Kevin Ryder, in particular, had developed those relationships with KROQ listeners over 30 years. To be so cavalier with its listeners shows a great amount of disrespect by the KROQ and Entercom management. That's truly a slap in the face, and extremely short-sighted by them.

I'm heartbroken. And yeah, quite a bit angry at KROQ and Entercom. But also grateful for having had "Kevin & Bean" and "Kevin in the Morning" in my life for the 24 years I've been out here. Part of what made my lengthy commute so bearable all these years was knowing I had a full hour and a half of the show to accompany me on that drive every day.

But even more important, I'm grateful to having known the "Kevin & Bean"/ "Kevin in the Morning" team personally. Ruben and Destiny. Beer Mug is truly one of the good guys. Omar created two different openers for my podcasts over the years. Christine was so kind to invite me to see Local Natives at the KROQ Sound Space just a few weeks ago, after seeing me post a pic of their album on Instagram! Dave Sanchez, the man who kept the K&B/KITM ship floating for these past several years as producer, thanks for always having me on, especially in November, when I got to spend the entire day with the team. Jensen, you were a fantastic addition to the show this past year and a half. Allie, you brought a fun evergy and an important voice/perspective to the show every day.

And Kevin, after 30 years, you and Bean are radio legends. KROQ can't take that away. Grateful to have had "Kevin & Bean"/ "Kevin in the Mornings" in my life, and to have even unleashed "Bruddah Mike" on your listeners. Thanks to you and the entire team for everything.

What Happened to KROQ? Everyone Wants to Know

Well, Shirley Halperin and I thought we'd make some waves with our lengthy, in-depth look at the woes facing KROQ, but didn't expect this: KROQ was trending in LA and nationwide last night as people discussed what happened to the legendary station. The decision to fire "Kevin in the Morning" is still raw, and fans are still angry. Meanwhile, new program director Mike Kaplan is implementing a change in the station's music mix that, honestly, I think is necessary. (Please, no more Red Hot Chili Peppers!) But he lost what ever benefit of the doubt that listeners might have given him and the station when Kevin Ryder and crew were yanked off the air, right at the start of the pandemic.

Read the full story here. An excerpt:

A funny thing happened the week of March 8. Iconic Los Angeles radio station KROQ, long known for showcasing the top names in alternative rock, programmed a pop hit, Post Malone’s “Circles,” into power rotation. On March 1, the song hadn’t registered a single spin. Seven days later, it had 32 plays. By the end of March, it was averaging 65 a week — and over the last three months it has become the station’s second most-played track behind Billie Eilish’s “Everything I Wanted” and ahead of Shaed’s “Trampoline.”

Post’s arrival came amid several major exits for the station: longtime program director Kevin Weatherly, who left in late February after 28 years — on the heels of a proposed pay cut (in the ballpark of 30% according to an insider) — for a position at Spotify (he starts in September); and the March 18 firing of morning host Kevin Ryder after three decades on the job.

The decision to blow up the morning show brought severe consequences. In the past two months, according to Nielsen’s most recent L.A. report, KROQ has dropped more than a share point among listeners age 6 and up (from a 2.5 to a 1.4 share of the market) — placing the Entercom-owned station far behind its alternative rock competitor, iHeartRadio’s KYSR-FM Alt 98.7 (at a 2.2 share). What’s more, according to one metric, KROQ lost half of its listenership in the weeks following the decision to yank “Kevin the Morning with Allie & Jensen” off the air.

Q&A with Jimmy Kimmel: The Early Days--and How KROQ Propelled His Career

If you listened to KROQ's "Kevin and Bean Show" in the 1990s, you still remember Jimmy Kimmel as "Jimmy the Sports Guy," as well as all of the bits and voices he did for the show (like Snoop Dogg and Karl Malone, among others). It's been fascinating to watch Kimmel's rise, first moonlighting as the sidekick on Comedy Central's "Win Ben Stein's Money" to "The Man Show," co-hosted by another guy who got his start on KROQ, Adam Carolla. Then came the biggest leap of them all: ABC late night talk show host. It's been 10 years since the Super Bowl Sunday in 2003 when Kimmel took to the stage, live from Hollywood, with, yes, Snoop Dogg as his guest co-host. A lot has changed on the show: The audience wasn't allowed booze after an audience member barfed on night one; the show is no longer live (although it's still taped later than most talk shows) and the guest co-hosts were dropped long ago.



Oh, and now, as of Tuesday, Kimmel airs at 11:35 p.m., smack dab opposite Jay Leno and David Letterman. Last year, before he hosted the Emmys, I sat down with Kimmel for our TV Guide Magazine cover story on the star. (You may remember, he dressed up as all five drama TV series nominees. Read the story: Man of the Year: Jimmy Kimmel on the Emmys, Oprah and Going Head-to-Head With Leno and Letterman.) During the interview we talked a bit about his radio career, including his stint at KROQ. That wasn't really TV Guide Magazine material, but it was still interesting. Below, he talks about how he jumped from market to market as his radio career hit some bumps; how he arrived for his first day at "Kevin & Bean" only to learn that the hosts weren't informed of his hire; how he ate a piece of year-old bacon at KROQ and lived to tell the tell; and his terrible first on-air TV experience in Seattle. Here's an excerpt.

TV Guide Magazine: Let’s go back to the beginning. Talk about your early radio career, and how you were fired at virtually every radio station up until you got to KROQ.

Kimmel: I was. I was fired in Phoenix and then Seattle. Then I moved back in with my parents in Phoenix, where they didn’t fire me but I got a job in Tampa-- in which I was fired. I went from Tampa to Palm Springs, I did not get fired in that job. I met Carson Daly, who was my intern there, and I left. I went to a radio station in Tucson, they fired me there, and then I came to KROQ in L.A. and I worked there for five years. It’s weird though because when you quit you’ve got to carry your own stuff out of the building. Instead of security putting it in a box and taking you downstairs.

TV Guide Magazine: Radio is a notoriously fickle business, but why were you constantly shown the door?

Kimmel: It was a combination of things. For one thing, most of the people I worked for weren’t particularly bright. And didn’t have much tolerance for creativity. I did a lot of weird stuff and I tried to entertain not only on the air but off the air as well, always pulling pranks on my bosses, silly things that I always assumed that they would take. Some of them did, some of them were great and some of them I keep in touch with to this day. But some of them just didn’t get it and were not interested in my nonsense. They just wanted to do their jobs and get out of there with no problems. When you do a morning show that’s at all interesting, problems are going to come up. People are going to complain, sponsors are going to get angry. This is the baggage that comes along with doing a controversial show. Most program directors and general managers will tell you they want that but they really don’t.



TV Guide Magazine: So how did you finally end up at KROQ and "The Kevin & Bean Show"?

Kimmel: Through Kevin Weatherly, whom I went to college with. When I went to Arizona State Kevin was at the radio station in Phoenix, KZZP. That was and probably still is the best radio station in the country. (Weatherly then moved to modern rock titan KROQ.) I was dying to work [at KROQ] and I kind of just repeatedly presented myself to him, trying to get myself hired and finally they did hire me. But when I did get to the station, the first day I showed up to work with Kevin and Bean, I walked in the door and they said, "They hired you?" I thought "Oh my God, this is a disaster." I moved my whole family out to California and these guys didn’t even know that I had been hired. But it turned out we got along really well and we worked together very well.

I have a lot of energy. You need that when you’re doing five and a half hours of radio every day. And I brought Adam Carolla to the show, Ralph Garman, a lot of people, some behind the scenes. I was obsessed with making the show as good as it can be. It really was something I thought about all day, all the time. Just constantly evaluating material for the show. And I did characters on the show, I did sports 6 times a morning. As far as writing goes, it taught me to write a lot of material very very quickly. That was something that helped prepare me for this job.

TV Guide Magazine: Bean told me to ask you about the time you ate a piece of year-old bacon in the office.

Kimmel: Bean is a vegetarian so he pulled the bacon off his Egg McMuffin. I nailed it to the wall and said, "In one year’s time I will eat this piece of bacon." And then as it got nearer I started dreading the fact that I was going to have to eat the bacon, and it became almost a part of the wall. I did eat the bacon, and it tasted like paint. But I survived.

TV Guide Magazine: Did you always see radio as a springboard? Was it your plan all along to do TV?

Kimmel: No, it wasn’t. I hosted local TV interstitials when I worked in Seattle. Kent Voss and I hosted a movie. And I watched it afterwards on TV, and I was terrible. I was so stiff, and so bad, and I evaluated myself, "Well, I’ll never be on TV, so I really need to make this radio thing work."

I was on the radio here in L.A. and only wound up on TV because every once in a while an agent or a producer would call and ask me to audition for something. Doing the same thing in Chicago or Philadelphia, none of this probably would have ever happened. I’d probably still be on the radio. More likely, I’d probably be unemployed again. But because I was in L.A., people were driving to work and hearing me and they asked me to audition for a variety of things. I started doing promos for the Fox network as “Jimmy the Fox Guy.” And then I auditioned for "Win Ben Stein's Money." And then I thought, "All right, maybe I’m not terrible. People seem to be laughing, this seems to be going OK."

TV Guide Magazine: Are there any YouTube videos of your Seattle TV appearance?

Kimmel: I don’t think so. I’ve never showed them on the show, but I do have them somewhere. I remember I’m wearing a thick cable-knit sweater and Sally Jessy Raphael glasses. It’s funny, it’s so stiff it’s not even interesting. It’s so bad it’s not even bad enough to be funny. Just kind of boring.

TV Guide Magazine: Didn’t CBS Radio try to get you to replace Howard Stern? (The gig eventually went to Adam Carolla on some stations, including Los Angeles' 97.1 KLSX-FM, and David Lee Roth in East Coast markets. Neither are still on the air.)

Kimmel: They inquired about it, but it was never serious. I worked with Adam on his show as producer, but I was never offered (the job). I was working for ABC at the time. I think that CBS Radio thought there was a good chance my talk show would be canceled, and they wanted to have me under contract in case that happened, then I could join Adam on the show that replaced Howard Stern, but that never happened.

TV Guide Magazine: How did ABC first come calling, and what was your reaction?

Kimmel: It was very strange and it’s hard to believe it happened like this, but my agent told me that Lloyd Braun, the president of ABC, wanted to have a meeting with me about doing a variety show on Thursday nights. I had no interest. I didn’t think a variety show would work. Even though, no matter what position I’ve ever been in my life, I’ve never knowingly agreed to do something bad -- something that I knew was going to be bad.

I said, "I’m not really interested in that," but my agent said, "You have to meet with this guy. He’s the president of the network. He wants to meet with you." I went to meet with him, and not for one moment did we ever discuss a variety show on Thursday night. The whole time we talked about late night television, and I thought we were just shooting the breeze really. And I grew up idolizing David Letterman, very interested in that stuff. We just talked about the state of late night television.

I learned this later, but he and Bob Iger had watched hours of tape of me hosting different shows, and they agreed they would offer me the job. They asked me to come in the next week. I walked in the office and they said, "We’d like you to host our late night show on ABC." I was thoroughly confused. I didn’t know what was happening, I didn’t expect it, I didn’t know they were looking to put a show on ABC. The last I heard, Letterman had said "no" and that was that.

Of course I said yes, and I went home in shock. Adam Carolla’s wife already knew I had been offered the job. She knew before I knew. She worked at ABC as an assistant there. The next day we were trying to pick a name for the show and hiring people. It was crazy. I signed my contract at a diner one hour before the network upfront. They brought my contract and wanted it signed before I went on stage in front of the advertisers. It just happened like that. I still look back on it and can’t believe how little thought and research went into that decision. It really was largely a hunch. They invested millions of dollars in a hunch.

TV Guide Magazine: We used to joke that Lloyd had a man crush on you.

Kimmel: I love Lloyd, I still do, and I’m still in contact with him. But I think for him, our show was a lot of fun, as opposed to the kind of slavish process you go through to put a scripted show on TV.

For me, of course it was exciting but I felt a lot of pressure. My best friend going up through my whole childhood, the best man at my wedding, Cleto, he lived across from me in Vegas. We loved Letterman and would watch Letterman every night together and talk about it, and he is a very talented musician, he’s touring with Paula Abdul and a serious sax player. I was like, "He has to be my band leader, if I’m going to have a band he absolutely has to be my band leader." But I was nervous that ABC would say no to it. They immediately said yes, they loved the idea, so Cleto and his dad are in the band. Then of course there are a lot of people from "The Man Show," my cousin Sal and a lot of our writers that I wanted to bring along, and I was able to bring pretty much everybody that I wanted to.

More Kimmel Q&A can be found here.

Retro Friday: Old School KROQ Edition

ROQ of the 80s... KROQ! Given our post earlier this week about KROQ's recent Arbitron loss to rival 98.7 KYSR, I thought we'd look back to the 1980s era of the "World Famous KROQ."





Above, an early KROQ commercial featuring Richard Blade.

Why KROQ's Bean Is Giving Away A Kidney This Week

TMZ Live pt3 11/02/12

This week, KROQ's Gene "Bean" Baxter -- the co-host of L.A.'s No. 1-rated (in demos) "Kevin & Bean" morning show -- will go under the knife in order to donate a kidney to Scott Mason, CBS Radio's west coast head of engineering. Bean, who works out of a studio in his home near Seattle, will be down here to undergo surgery at Cedars-Sinai on November 13. He first learned of Mason's failing kidneys when the engineer made his annual trip up to Washington state to do maintenance on Bean's studio.

During that visit, Bean noticed how unwell Mason (who's been with KROQ since 1979, and once served as an on-air jock) looked. At KROQ's site, Bean wrote about his big decision to step in and help Mason out; here's an excerpt:

Scott has had medical issues for much of his adult life, including his kidneys failing, and that led him to have a transplant from a cadaver back in 1999. Well, now that one has failed too and Scott is back on dialysis for many hours a week. The kidney processes waste out of the blood and without one your body is being poisoned all the time. The dialysis helps but is a temporary solution. You only get off the machine if you get a new kidney or you die.

He explained his situation and that he was about six years out on the waiting list for a new kidney. That was inconceivable to me, to imagine that all over America there are people like Scott, who are very sick and might die, waiting for organs at the same time that literally of thousands of them are being buried every year.

If nothing else, I hope everyone reading this will double check that their wishes are known and that they will make their liver, lungs, eyes and whatever else can be harvested after their death to help another human. (Here is one resource for more information on that.)

Bean has done several interviews on his decision since then, including TMZ Live (above). If anything, he seems to be having a big impact on spreading donor awareness among KROQ listeners. We'll be wishing him and Scott Mason luck this week, and a speedy recovery. He hopes to be back on the air by after the Thanksgiving holiday.